There are nearly 2.5 billion mobile subscribers worldwide with mobile penetration rates exceeding 100 percent in many industrialized nations. The growing use of mobile phones is changing our cultural and economic landscapes, including how firms communicate, interact and market to their prospects and customers. Marketers are beginning to leverage the mobile channel for marketing, a practice commonly referred to as mobile marketing.

The recent Forrester Research study ‘Interactive Marketing Channels to Watch in 2006’ reported that 43 percent of the 259 United States marketers questioned have to or plan to begin employing mobile within their marketing mix in the next twelve months. A 2006 study commissioned by Airwide Solutions of 50 United Kingdom brands found that 89 percent of them are planning to employ mobile marketing within the next two years, and within the next five years 52 percent of the brands will allocate up to 25 percent of their marketing budgets on mobile marketing. By 2011 marketing spend on mobile marketing and wireless advertising is expected to range from $3.5 to $14 billion, and the mobile content market is expected to generate more than $35 billion, up from $16 billion in 2006. Finally, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) 2006 ‘Mobile Attitudes and Usage Study’ found 82 percent of consumers report that their mobile phone is ‘highly to moderately important’ to their daily life, and 79 percent say that they are ‘highly to moderately dependent’ on their mobile phone. The use of the mobile channel for marketing is here to stay, but there is still much to learn regarding its effective use.

• The ‘Latest Thinking in Mobile Marketing’ Henry Stewart Talks series will focus on: 
• The mobile marketing ecosystem and how key players can improve ecosystem efficiencies by working together 
• Mobile content’s expanding role as the creator of mobile relationships and driver of revenue 
• The challenges and opportunities for mobile advertising as a growth enabler of mobile commerce 
• How the mobile industry, regulators and associations must together face the challenges and provide value to a rapidly expanding mobile marketing industry 
• How new mobile technologies will drive future success in the highly personalized world of mobile marketing

Listen to all 11 lectures at Henry Stewart Talks.